Patel Bros to boost Saturday 2nds in 2007
The Patel brothers (Girish and Hament) declare their intention to play for Saturday 2nd Team. Girish and Hament enjoyed playing with the 2nd team and feel they can help to develop the 2nd team further under the lead of Brian 'lumboo' Clifford.

MCCC's annual dinner proved to be a good turnout - it was really nice to see everyone had made the effort to attend and bring their partners where they could. This years dinner was held at the renovated Bayee Village Chinese Restuarant in Wimbledon. Many thanks to Ewan Cotter for organising this - great job.

MCCC Legend set to make come back in 2007

Former MCCC Pace Ace Andy Alan is set to return to action for the club in 2007. Andy sent the club an email earlier this week to inform us of his plans to return to these shores. Another year with MCCC was just too much for him to resist. Andy holds the record for number of wickets taken during a season (set in 2005).

Full text of Andy Alan's email is below:

Hey there Jim, How are you mate?

Its Andy, just wanted to let you guys know that I have managed to get 6 months of my job in New Zealand and was wondering if I could have another season with Morden! I have been following the clubs progress on the website, sounds like the boys had a great season. I emailed Gerry a few weeks ago and he said we may be Playing league cricket next season, sounds exciting!

Our season has just started here and finishes in march. I get to London on the 28 march so will be able to go to the net practice on 31 march.

Hope all is well with you and your family and hope to hear from you soon

Cheers Mate
Andy

Events at the AGM

Last weekend saw the club AGM held at Raynes Park. With a lot of points of discussion it was going to be an interesting event. The main theme at the AGM this year was talk of joining a league. This motion, which was proposed by Jim Patel, was based around 16 people required for a league squad which would play in the Wye Valley league, Division 2. After much hot air on all sides the motion was eventually passed on the basis that all teams get treated in an equitable way with regards to the venues they play at.

The format league would be 16 names submitted for our club. The league team would play 10 home and 10 away games. A 12th man would have to attend each game as part of the terms of a league match. How the 12th man scenario is going to be managed is still to be finalised as is the venue the league team would play on. The general feeling amongst those who played in the Saturday 2nds was that they didn't want to get less priority than the other teams. The 2nd Saturday team was only established over the last couple of years with many of games having to be away.

The club has come along in leaps and bounds recently in terms of the standard of cricket that is played and this is the catalyst for joining a league. The appetite for competitive cricket has grown. With the likes of Cummings brothers, Andy Jarret, Gerry and others we should make a big impact on Dvision 2 of the Wye Valley League. We would expect to be near the top given our ability.

Steve O'Neil Ramsadeo completed his tenure as MCCC Chairman. Steve has seen the club through much change in recent years. His input has been invaluable. We hope he continues contributing to the club's success in the future.

Imran Ahmad has been elected Club Chairman. Imran is one of the handful of founding members of the club that still with the club. Brian Clifford, after a successful 2006, has now been promoted to Saturday 2nd Captain with Ewan Cotter as his vice. Ewan has also been re-elected as Social Secretary. The Social Secretary's role has been broadened to include the responsibility of media relations. Our next step needs to get the club mentioned more in the local media. In the past this has been an area not really developed.

In his absence, Roy Cummings was elected as Twenty Twenty Captain. His brother, Stephen Cummings, being the most successful captain in 2006 with an 87% winning success. The only loss being in the twenty twenty cup. The ever steady Girish Patel was voted in as Saturday 1st Captain. Girish had another big year with the bat. Cuan 'Sledge' Brown is deputising for him.

Other details from the AGM will be available from the minutew which will be distributed shortly.